Our Story

Manuel has been rolling his mom’s home-made burrito recipe out of the Asada Rico food cart on 16th Street Mall since 2009, but the flavors are drenched in a love and history that started much earlier. This is our story:

“My mom, Jennie, started selling burritos out of a cooler to support her 10 children and to be able to buy us all Christmas gifts. In fact, my first memory with her is in the kitchen, watching her cook. I remember that she loved cooking and truly enjoyed making each burrito. My mom is only 4’ 11” but she has the biggest heart that I have ever known she’s also the best cook in the world. She loves to cook and you can taste it…she has perfected her green chili recipe.

As one of 15 kids herself, my mother started a hard working life at the age of 12. Though she had no formal education, she was able to pass on her exceptional work ethic and delicious recipes to me and my siblings. I always used to tell my mom if she would ever have a real business selling burritos that she would be rich, but she chose not to. Instead, she chose to put everything into her kids and she is very rich in love.

Since I only have one child and not 10, I figured I would take her burritos to the world because they’re just too good to keep to ourselves. From the beginning, my mission has been to make customers happy and to provide customers with the best quality food, the best customer service and the cleanest food preparation humanly possible. I only serve my favorite foods, which are prepared with the best care and quality and always give our customers their money’s worth.

It’s like the 16th Street Mall was made for me. It was established in 1982 and I was born one year later, in 1983. In December of 2009, snow was everywhere the economy was the worst in decades. People probably thought I was crazy. It took a lot of guts and faith to start a business at that time. My goal was to open that summer, but by the time everything came together, it was December and I just went for it.

After 6 years in business, the key to Asada Rico’s success can be summed up in one word…CARE. Yes, it is that simple. The simplest things in life are always the best things. We care. We care about producing the best quality food. I accept nothing less than perfection because when somebody chooses to eat at Asada Rico, they deserve nothing less than the best; it was just the way I was brought up. I’ve been in sales for most of my life and I could never sell anything that I didn’t believe was the best. This is why I always wanted to sell my mom’s food…because I’ve always believed that it is the best food on this side of heaven.”